Originally Posted by
sunrisegirl
No, because someone living in say Paris or the Netherlands could use Air France or KLM for their long haul flights. Instead as a thank you for using BA instead of the local national carrier, BA give them the incentive of not needing so many TPs to gain status, and as a result get the business of these passengers rather than seeing someone else get it. (Not sure I've explained that the best I can but hope you know what I mean
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That is a very good summary^
I can only look at myself. In Sweden we only have SAS which is pretty good but also somewhat limited in destinations. So when I travel I have to connect somewhere. I can choose CPH, LHR, CDG, FRA or AMS. And over the years I have traveled long-haul with Lufthansa, KLM, South African and of course BA.
I was very near to give up BA for good because of awful experiences at LHR. I still remember hours in queues for security. Tents outside the terminals. But T5 is a delight, very charming and efficient.
Finally when I realized that I was actually able to get silver/gold with my travel pattern I decided to go BA/OW whenever possible. This after carefully examining FF program benefits. If the bar was raised to UK level, I would still be silver but gold would be unreachable. Now, silver isn't bad at all so I would probably still be a BA customer but maybe consider LH and their FF programme.